Thermo- and electro-optical properties of photonic liquid crystal fibers doped with gold nanoparticles

Thermo- and electro-optical properties of a photonic liquid crystal fiber (PLCF) enhanced by the use of dopants have been investigated. A 6CHBT nematic liquid crystal was doped with four different concentrations of gold nanoparticles (NPs), 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 wt %, for direct comparison of the influence of the dopant on the properties of the PLCF. The thermo-optical effects of the liquid crystal doped with gold NPs were compared in three setups, an LC cell, a microcapillary and within the PLCF, to determine if the observed responses to external factors are caused by the properties of the infiltration material or due to the setup configuration. The results obtained indicated that with increasing NP doping a significant reduction of the rise time under an external electric field occurs with a simultaneous decrease in the nematic–isotropic phase transition temperature, thus improving the thermo- and electro-optical properties of the PLCF.

[1]  Shin-Tson Wu,et al.  Frequency tunability of solid-core photonic crystal fibers filled with nanoparticle-doped liquid crystals. , 2009, Optics express.

[2]  Satya Prakash Yadav,et al.  Carbon nanotube dispersion in nematic liquid crystals: An overview , 2016 .

[3]  Y. Garbovskiy.  Ions in liquid crystals doped with nanoparticles: conventional and counterintuitive temperature effects , 2017 .

[4]  R. Dąbrowski,et al.  Photonic liquid crystal fibers — a new challenge for fiber optics and liquid crystals photonics , 2006 .

[5]  R. Dabrowski,et al.  Mesomorphic Characteristics of Some New Homologous Series with the Isothiocyanato Terminal Group , 1985 .

[6]  Chengmei Zhong,et al.  CdS-Nanoparticle-Doped Liquid Crystal Displays Showing Low Threshold Voltage , 2009 .

[7]  Sang-Kee Eah,et al.  Charged gold nanoparticles in non-polar solvents: 10-min synthesis and 2D self-assembly. , 2010, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[8]  Yuan Zhang,et al.  Metal nanoparticle dispersion, alignment, and assembly in nematic liquid crystals for applications in switchable plasmonic color filters and E-polarizers. , 2015, ACS nano.

[9]  Anders Bjarklev,et al.  Optical devices based on liquid crystal photonic bandgap fibres. , 2003, Optics express.

[10]  Vladimir G. Chigrinov,et al.  Liquid Crystal Devices: Physics and Applications , 1999 .

[11]  T. Zentgraf,et al.  Liquid crystals and precious metal: from nanoparticle dispersions to functional plasmonic nanostructures , 2017 .

[12]  R. Dąbrowski,et al.  Enhancement of the display parameters of 4′-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl due to the dispersion of functionalised gold nano particles , 2011 .

[13]  R. Dabrowski.  New Liquid Crystalline Materials for Photonic Applications , 2004 .

[14]  M. Inam,et al.  Effect of gold nano-particles on switch-on voltage and relaxation frequency of nematic liquid crystal cell , 2011 .

[15]  R. Manohar,et al.  Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles dispersion on ionic behaviour in nematic liquid crystal , 2015 .

[16]  T. Sluckin,et al.  Frederiks transition in ferroelectric liquid-crystal nanosuspensions. , 2011, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[17]  M. Urbanski,et al.  Nanoparticle doping in nematic liquid crystals: distinction between surface and bulk effects by numerical simulations. , 2014, Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry.

[18]  A. Petrov,et al.  Electro-optically responsive composites of gold nanospheres in 5CB liquid crystal under direct current and alternating current joint action , 2014 .

[19]  T. Wolinski,et al.  Electric Field Sensing With Photonic Liquid Crystal Fibers Based on Micro-Electrodes Systems , 2015, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[20]  M. Warenghem,et al.  Elastic constants, viscosity and response time in nematic liquid crystals doped with ferroelectric nanoparticles , 2014 .

[21]  C. Zannoni,et al.  Doping liquid crystals with nanoparticles. A computer simulation of the effects of nanoparticle shape. , 2016, Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP.

[22]  J. Mieczkowski,et al.  Smectic mesophases of functionalized silver and gold nanoparticles with anisotropic plasmonic properties. , 2013, Chemical communications.

[23]  Inelastic collisions and anisotropic aggregation of particles in a nematic collider driven by backflow. , 2010, Physical review letters.

[24]  Thomas A. Klar,et al.  Electrically controlled light scattering with single metal nanoparticles , 2002 .

[25]  L. Martinez-miranda,et al.  Interfacial Structure of a Liquid Crystal/Nanoparticle Nanocomposite Studied by X-ray Scattering: Indirect Evidence for the Role of Faceting of the Nanoparticles. , 2016, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[26]  M. Urbanski,et al.  Electroconvection in nematic liquid crystals via nanoparticle doping. , 2010, Nanoscale.

[27]  G. Nair,et al.  Electrical conductivity and dielectric constant measurements of liquid crystal–gold nanoparticle composites , 2006 .

[28]  Chi-Yen Huang,et al.  Electro-optical Effect of Gold Nanoparticle Dispersed in Nematic Liquid Crystals , 2017 .

[29]  Modeling of metallic nanostructures embedded in liquid crystals: application to the tuning of their plasmon resonance. , 2009, Optics letters.

[30]  Mostafa A. El-Sayed,et al.  The golden age: gold nanoparticles for biomedicine. , 2012, Chemical Society reviews.

[31]  Victor Yu. Reshetnyak,et al.  Ferroelectric nematic suspension , 2003 .

[32]  W. Haase,et al.  Electrooptical and Dielectric Properties of Alkylthiol-Capped Gold Nanoparticle-Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Nanocomposites: Influence of Chain Length and Tethered Liquid Crystal Functional Groups , 2012 .

[33]  Roman Dabrowski,et al.  Electrical and electro-optical parameters of 4ʹ-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl nematic liquid crystal dispersed with gold and silver nanoparticles , 2015 .